I'm sure this has probably been mentioned before, but I figured I would mention it anyway. When selling things on the web (and outside the web), the cost of PCI compliance for software, websites, and small business owners can be prohibitive. If they used bitcoin instead, they wouldn't have to go through a lengthy, costly (and ongoing costly) compliance with the PCI spec (and would still be inherently safer).
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big proponent of a lot of the PCI spec, but it can be a burden on small businesses.
We talked to a few large businesses at CES this week. They were very interested in bitcoins as a payment method because it eliminates all of the PCI compliance costs and hassles.
Square was also at CES and many people were visiting our booth after they talked to Square. Square is a convenient way to collect a payment, but it's still built on the credit card system and doesn't solve any of the problems of chargebacks or PCI.
It is very expensive for a company to safeguard all of this sensitive information, not only from hackers but also from their own employees. Plus companies get to pay each year for a mandatory audit. It's a real hassle. Bitcoins are by far the most merchant friendly payment system available today, and we got that point across to some very important people this week.
